Lindsey Erin Jordan, the American singer-songwriter behind the solo project Snail Mail, has been relatively absent musically for the past few years. After finding success in 2018 with her debut album “Lush” and in 2021 with the follow-up, “Valentine,” Jordan was forced to take a break after undergoing vocal cord surgery.
After retraining her voice and overcoming the ordeal, Jordan came through with her third album, “Ricochet,” on Friday, March 27. Musically, Jordan works in the same indie rock and indie pop lanes as before, guided by sentimental songwriting. But her vocals stand out as the most dramatic change, airier than before and with noticeably more restraint.
Jordan sucks the listener into her sound with the opener, “Tractor Beam,” a neat package of indie rock fun that sounds like a higher-energy Phoebe Bridgers song. The power of the chorus feels limitless with its busy and dense instrumentation as Jordan moves forward optimistically, singing that “The future looks so bright / Skyward on a tractor beam.”
Things get a bit existential on “My Maker,” where Jordan sings about life’s purpose and what might exist after death. While the uncertainty makes the track a good foil to the positive opener, cliches muddle the message and takes away from its thematic potential.
The first half of each chorus opens with Jordan musing about “Another year gone by / What if nothing matters? / Waitin’ ‘round to die / To see what happens after.” When the bridge comes around, lush with acoustic guitars and fierce electric guitar tapping, what could’ve been an opportunity for more nuanced reflection passes by with “yeah, yeah, yeah” repeated frequently instead.
“Light On Our Feet” returns to Jordan’s concern with the afterlife with lyrics fixating on spending time together with a loved one after death. The title corresponds with the opening, as a soft pattering of drums leads into a slowly drifting chorus, one of the catchiest on the record. The way Jordan spaciously sings the titular phrase and the words, “We’re always falling asleep” summons feelings of pleasant dreams and unexpected warmth in early spring. Even prettier and more addictive are the dense strings that later layer the composition and ascend skyward with Jordan’s vocals before the bridge slows down.
The following “Cruise” takes on a similar approach to the songs that came before but features a defiant trumpet cutting through the mix. Before Jordan winds things down in the outro, the horn reaches a near-overbearing volume, a nice switch-up compared to the guitars that typically add sonic density throughout the project.
The album’s middle stretch struggles to differentiate the tracks from each other. “Agony Freak” and lead single “Dead End” are both heavier on the rock aesthetics and are thematically angsty , and while neither are bad, neither offers something the other doesn’t. They’re structured similarly, too, both featuring loud intros and choruses, while Jordan pulls back in the verses. “Dead End” has a bit of a euphoric outro with a “na na na” barrage, but even that differentiator feels reminiscent of the ending of “My Maker.”
The same sense of likeness can be found in the run from “Butterfly” to “Hell,” but each track has a little more going for them. “Butterfly” has a nice jangly energy, while “Nowhere” features a slightly slower paced style with a dissociative narrative as Jordan sings about “The junction of sleeping and being in limbo.” “Hell” has more of a bite with aggressive, grunge-like guitars that hammer away at the listener, but the way they come in and out of the song echoes the structure of earlier songs on the album.
But Jordan comes through with the final tracks as a breath of fresh air. The title track brings back the strings from “Cruise,” but they serve a more atmospheric role as the drums and guitar rumble with steadily building tension. The song ends in a graceful swell instead of explosive energy, a nice change of pace.
The closer “Reverie” is the calmest track on the album, a fitting way to end things off as Jordan brings back the optimism from “Tractor Beam” and “Light On Our Feet.” Jordan sings about rejecting a socialite figure and embracing someone she truly cares for, ending by calling this newfound partner “a lighthouse / In my cold, stormy life.”
Jordan’s return to Snail Mail with “Ricochet” brings a lot to the table, often bristling with energy and catchy instrumental flourishes, whether in the louder outbursts or subdued moments. But the repetitive song structures and underwhelming lyricism depreciate what could have been, especially with how well Jordan manages to musically stand out from the abundance of indie artists working in similar genres. More nuance in the writing or progression would help, but even as is, the music quality more than speaks for itself.